Subject: What kind of spider is this?
Location: Santa Cruz, CA
November 10, 2014 11:38 am
Hello Bugman. What kind of spider is this? Our guess is a type of Huntsman, but there are so many different types of Huntsman photos online, and none really match well. The purple leg segments are beautiful. There is the tip of a standard chopstick in the photo for scale: The spider is 2 to 2 1/4 inches long. Thank you.
Signature: Doug
Dear Doug,
We do not think this is a Huntsman Spider. We are not certain, but your spider resembles a male Crevice Weaver in the genus Kukulcania. See this image from BugGuide for comparison. At least one member of the genus is found in California. We are going to seek assistance from Eric Eaton and Mandy Howe on your spider’s identity.
Eric Eaton Responds
Hi, Daniel:
This is something in the family Tengellidae (no common name), maybe in the genus Titiotus.
Eric
Very cool! Thanks Daniel and please thank Eric for us. It sure looks like a Titiotus. It’s wonderful to learn this Genus is native to CA and bite is harmless. Sorry, we did not get a close-up of features to identify the species. It is now roaming around our home in places unknown. I found other Titiotus observations close-by and around CA on iNaturalist Genus Titiotus after getting Eric’s email. Also see you have a Tengellid post from almost exactly 1 year ago, ironically from Doug, but not me, and near where we have relatives. Thank you too for the very fast replies. Most ironically, my last name is Titus! Oh the web of coincidence. Cheers, Doug
Update from Mandy Howe
Hi Daniel,
A year has passed since you sent this, so maybe it’s not helpful anymore, sorry! (Better late than never?) We’re working on a redesign of the Spiders.us website and I had also been “absent” for quite a long time so wasn’t checking this email account.
But the spider in the image is a male in the genus Titiotus, which used to be in the family Tengellidae up until earlier this year (I think I remember seeing some other Titiotus on your site before, so you might have some that need to change families now). Everything that was in Tengellidae (and Zorocratidae, actually) is now in the family Zoropsidae. They don’t really have an official common name; but we use “wandering spider” at BugGuide. Just have to be careful that people don’t mistake it for the potentially dangerous “Brazilian wandering spiders” of South America. They look totally different, but the nicknames sound similar so people make assumptions and get freaked out sometimes.
I saw that you sent this to Eric, too; sorry if he already got back to you and this is just rehash.
Hope that helps, and that you’re doing well!
Mandy